Gift Exchange

Unfolding the small piece of paper in his hand, Donatello smiled  awkwardly at the name appearing on it. He noticed how wiggly the initial  was, followed by five succinct and well-rounded letters. As he felt a  small rush of blood in his cheeks, he was more apprehensive than he  should have been. 

This gift exchange was a great idea for  everyone in their group to receive something special. However, as soon  as he had noticed the “A” on the white stationary, his mind was filled  with doubt. For some reason, he had thought of a possible gift for  everyone in their group: A comic-book shelf for Mikey; a portable radio  for Mizuiro; relaxing bath salts for Raph; a French-press tea infuser  for Leo… well, for everyone except Adrian. The common agreement in their  group -considering the lack of funds from most- was that the gifts  would either have to be handmade or recycled. Donatello could create a  lot of things easily. He knew more than anyone that making things was  his specialty. Nonetheless, he was now completely in the dark as to what  he could offer to their terrapin friend from outer space. How could he  find an original gift for someone who has access to an inter dimensional  portal? Adrian probably could find whatever he wants, whenever he felt  like it, right? 

The ever so resourceful mutant turtle was already  running out of ideas. It took him days to admit it, but he was at an  impasse. Eventually, he decided to ask Adrian’s closest friend. She was  the only one aware of their relationship so far. After all, only three  weeks had passed since they had their first kiss. 

~ 

Today,  the turtles’ lair was being prepared for their annual Christmas party.  While Adrian was helping Raphael hanging decorations around, Mizuiro was  untangling fairy lights in the living room. Michelangelo was writing  down the ingredients they would need for cooking and Leonardo was  decorating the tree with their father. Meanwhile, Donatello was making  sure that the electrical panel could handle their future power usage.  Noticing how his task involved being physically close to Mizuiro, he  thought it might be an occasion to ask for advice. Fortunately for him,  loud festive music was playing at their place, thanks to Michelangelo.  Nobody else would hear what he was about to ask. 

“So…” Donatello started innocently, grabbing Mizuiro’s attention. Have you already thought about your gift?” 

“I did.” His friend sighed after letting go of a knot she has been working on untangling. “But it’s not done yet.” 

“Right.” He paused. “There isn’t much time left before Christmas.” 

She hummed in agreement, keeping her concentration on the many wires laying around. 

“To be completely honest,” Donatello continued, “I don’t have a clue of what I could give.” 

He  shyly scratched the back of his head, hoping for a reaction from her  friend. Eventually, Mizuiro looked up, witnessing his doubtful  expression. The brow bones behind his purple mask framed his eyes in a  downward curve. He was implicitly asking for help.

“Whose name did you end up with?” She asked curiously. 

“Adrian…” he mentioned in a lower voice. 

Mizuiro  looked around to check if anyone heard him. Seeing they didn’t, she got  up and approached him slowly. Still hearing loud melodies playing  around the lair, she relied on them to cover their conversation.

“What’s wrong, Donnie?”

“I  really don’t know what I can give him”, he repeated, “and I don’t want  it to be something that’s too obvious either. I don’t know if my family  is okay with us being more than friends.”

“But,” his human friend interrupted him, “what makes you think they wouldn’t approve?”

“I  don’t know.” he sighed, fiddling with his own hands as usual. “It’s not  really a subject we talk about in our home. I’m sure you understand,  since you must’ve thought about it, too.”

His friend’s shoulders subtly became stiff.

“Adrian  told me.” Donatello shrugged, empathizing about these awkward feelings  that weren’t easy to put into words. “Your secret is safe with me  though, I promise.”

Without saying anything, she stared at him  with a worried glance. After another quick look around, she finally let  out a few words, in a much lower voice.

“I understand,” Mizuiro  sighed, asking herself how long she would be able to keep her feelings  secret at this point.  “Why don’t you focus less on your intimate  knowledge of him… and more on what other people know?”

He moved his right hand to his chin, not sure what she meant.

“For example,” his friend continued, “he introduced himself as a traveller, right? This alone must surely give you ideas.”

His  eyes expanded after hearing this, realizing the answer has been right  under his nose all this time. Well, his beak, in his case. Only a few  seconds after, they were surprised by Raphael’s voice coming from the  other side of the lair. He had his hand on the sound system volume,  where he had adjusted the tuning knob to be heard.

“When you two geeks are done discussing electrical power and whatnot, could you give us a hand with this?”

As  he pointed the top of the Christmas tree, they both noticed how their  traditional star-shaped topper had yet to be functional. Immediately,  Donatello smiled and walked in direction of the tree. 

“What is it? You didn’t connect it on the garlands?” he inquired.

“We didn’t want to make anything explode.” Raphael retorted, half-joking.

Mizuiro  admired the way Donatello could change subject so easily, not showing  any sign of his previously stressed state of mind. She went back to  untangling the lights on the floor, a well-known black hand with red  spots appearing in front of her. Adrian offered his help while sitting  next to her. 

“You told him.” Mizuiro whispered after a minute of silence. 

“What?” her friend breathed back.

“About… our secret.”

“Oh!” Adrian exclaimed, way too loud for his friend’s taste.

She put her finger in front of her mouth.

“I’m  sorry!” Adrian justified himself, back to an undertone. “The guy is a  genius. It was only a matter of time until he figured I was hiding  something from him. It slipped out.”

His friend sighed again, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. 

“I don’t want to ruin Christmas with all of this… drama.” She said softly.

Her terrapin friend placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m sure it wouldn’t ruin anything, but I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“Thank you, Adrian.”

He  gently hugged her before untangling the last two wires. He felt the  need to stand in a victorious swing, both his hands showing off the now  precisely arranged lights on the floor.

“We did it!” He said out loud, trying to cheer his friend.

“We?” Leonardo stepped in. “Mizuiro did most of the work, didn’t she?”

She  shrugged while getting up, Adrian winking at her with the most obvious  smile. This guy just didn’t know subtlety like she did, apparently. 

~

On December 25^th,  Adrian appeared in the middle of the lair. Their gift exchange has been  planned for 3 PM, but the portal user came by an hour earlier. He could  never determine New York’s exact time after the Daylight-Saving date.  On other planets he visited, most of them agreed on a global time  management solution. At least for once, he was in advance instead of  being late.

“Hey, Adrian!” Michelangelo greeted him with a smile. “You’re early!” 

“Apparently?” he smiled back after noticing the time on the kitchen clock. “Hey, where should I put my gift?”

“Right here, my dude!” Michelangelo pointed their Christmas tree.

He noticed that six gifts were placed there, all indicating their names.

“Wait, is Mizuiro here already?”

“Uh yeah, she’s with Donnie, in his lab. I think she’s working on something with him.”

Adrian noticed the television was on, the weather forecast announcing snow in their area.

“Oh,  can we go outside after our gift exchange!?” his friend asked with an  enthusiastic voice. “Is it okay for us to go out in the day like that?”

“We could, yeah! There aren’t many humans outside during Christmas anyway.”

Michelangelo drew the attention at them.

“Hey guys! We can start early. Adrian is here!”

Raphael  and Leonardo stepped out of the dojo while two heads peeked outside of  the laboratory. Splinter had risen up from the couch and sat next to  their Christmas tree. The seven of them formed a circle, Adrian making  sure to sit next to Donatello.

“So, who’s first?” Splinter asked. “Should I just pick one since I am not biased?”

They  all agreed to follow his suggestion, and he carefully gave the gifts to  everyone. One by one, they opened their gifts and thanked each other.  Adrian had found a cool-looking extraterrestrial dagger for Raphael  during one of his travel, who then gave a knitted scarf to Leonardo. The  latter gave a bracelet to Mizuiro, mentioning he had looked for  trinkets all around the city to make it. Michelangelo received a pair of  harem pants made by Mizuiro, which he tried on immediately. He  proceeded by giving his gift to Donatello, which was a homemade “Do not  disturb” sign to put on the door of his lab with cupcakes he had cooked.  Last but not least, Adrian received a water bottle from Donatello. A  confused look appeared on his face.

“Please, open the bottle”  Donatello insisted. “There is a filter inside that should allow you to  drink water wherever you find it!”

“Oh, that is so cool!” Adrian beamed. “Thank you, honey!”

Completely  oblivious to his words, he kept examining the bottle and the  craftmanship of it. Eventually, his attention got back to Donatello,  whose face was now as red as a mutant turtle could be.

“Honey?” Michelangelo broke the silence.

“Did that just slip out of your mouth?” Raphael asked, an awkward smile appearing on his face.

“Oh.” Adrian softly winced, realizing the situation he had just created.

He  looked around and saw everyone alternating their attention between  Donatello and him. The conclusion was evident, seeing how shy and silent  both of them suddenly were. Mizuiro put her hand in front of her mouth  to hide her subtle smile. Unfortunately, someone did notice it.

“Wait,” Leonardo addressed her. “You knew?”

She  was about to justify herself when Adrian disrupted the general  uneasiness. He casually went sitting next to Donatello and put an arm  over his now official “boyfriend”.

“I guess there’s no way of denying it now, is there?” he joked, avoiding their stares by looking at his partner. 

Even if he didn’t want to admit he was embarrassed, redness had also appeared on his cheeks.

“I  am happy for you, my son.” Declared the turtle’s father, whose reaction  was unexpectedly calm and collected. “You didn’t have to hide it from  us.”

“Since when!?” interrupted Michelangelo.

Donatello,  however, couldn’t say anything. It was not how he had planned to  announce this to his family. Actually, he didn’t even have the chance to  think of a better alternative. At least, Adrian had made it easier to  swallow the pill by saying it nonchalantly.

“Erm well… Adrian,  didn’t you want to go outside?” Donatello suggested, wanting to escape  this uncomfortable situation as much as possible.

“Yes!” he remembered. “Let’s go now, how about that?”

Adrian  got up and took Donatello by the hand, walking in direction of the  lair’s entrance. Michelangelo wouldn’t accept the change of subject so  easily.

“Don’t take it badly, I’m really hyped for them! I simply wonder why he didn’t tell us!”

“Love  is complicated, Mikey.” Insisted Raphael. “Let them be. I’m sure Donnie  will answer our questions later. Let’s just go outside for now, yeah?”

“Make  sure to come back before 5,” mentiond Splinter. “That’s when I asked  our guests to visit. Be careful, and don’t taunt him with your questions  so much.”

A synchronized “Yes sensei” formally escaped the mouth  of the three remaining mutant turtles. They all went in their respective  rooms to find winter clothing. Donatello came back with other garments  destined for Adrian. Snow has always been a source of joy for the  traveller. Even if he had witnessed many different climates and  meteorological phenomena, nothing could make him feel as giddy as  Earth’s own frozen vapor. The fact that he had associated the sight of  snow with Donatello’s presence might have been a good indicator of why  he liked it so much. 

~

Outside, while their little group  were making a snow sculpture, Donatello had asked Adrian to take a walk  far from the others. Holding his special someone’s hand along the road,  Adrian felt proud to be with him. Despite the shy nature of his partner,  he showed much more confidence. His smile was growing by the second,  not having to hide himself from anyone. Well, he still had to avoid  humans, -and the cold- hence the snowsuit he was wearing. 

“I had something else to give you, Adrian.” Calmly said Donatello.

“Oh? You didn’t have to!”

“I insist. The water bottle was easy to make. I wanted you to have this.”

He handed him a booklet out of his pocket.

“This is a portable photo album with pictures of our group. I asked Mizuiro to help me print it.”

Adrian  briefly looked at the pages in the book, but he decided to hug his  partner for the moment being. He placed a delicate kiss on his forehead,  hugging him even tighter. 

“You’re absolutely precious, do you know that, Donnie?”

“Ah… come on.” He shyly scoffed back.